By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – When the Bristol Eastern softball squad defeated rival Bristol Central last Thursday, the Lancers’ collective focus never wavered even after the Rams’ Gwen Torreso jammed an eighth inning solo home run to make it a 1-0 game.

Playing from behind at home and working to its strengths, Eastern was able to tally three hits over the final inning of play – including back-to-back RBI singles from Janessa Gonzalez and Jazmyn Browne – to snare a 2-1 victory over its city rival in a huge CCC South confrontation from the Lancers’ softball field on King Street.

Clearly, the game – despite a massive victory over Southington earlier in the campaign – was the biggest win of the year for the Kingstreeters.

“We’ve been talking about mental focus, we’ve been talking about next pitch, next pitch, don’t carry over the last pitch, the last at-bat or anything like that,” said Eastern coach Scott Redman after the game.

The 2-1 contest was a throwback to softball days of old when pitching and defense ruled the game.

Because looking around the state this year, there has been some ridiculous scoring and sometimes, that barrage of runs comes from both teams.

Simsbury defeated Plainville, 22-4, back on April 23, St. Paul Catholic got by Waterbury Career Academy by an 18-17 final on April 13, and Weaver has lost games after scoring 26, 24, 21, and 20 runs – dropping a mind-numbing 30-20 decision to Innovation just last Thursday.

That’s not what fans saw in the BC/BE tilt on May 6 as the two teams didn’t notch a run over seven innings of regulation.

And each squad had a chance to end the game throughout the showdown but could not.

Anytime you can witness a scoreless encounter with extra frames needed to determine the ultimate victor, that’s simply a pleasure to witness no matter what team you’re rooting for.

You know that’s a tremendous showdown being played by some of the best talent in the city.

Who said old-school softball is no longer played these days?

“This was typical years ago. Two good teams are playing [a] 1-0” game said Redman. “You [used] to have to scratch and claw for one run. That’s good softball.”

Then you look at the components in the circle: Alex Sciarretto for Central and Ali Tellier from Eastern.

Those are two of the young studs of the Mum City and if you want to get a hit off that duo, you won’t see many good pitches to blast out.

Eastern moved to 7-3 after drilling Farmington in a doubleheader last Friday to reach the midway point of the campaign.

After dropping the River Hawks by 14-3 and 10-1 decisions, Eastern has a couple heavy-hitters left on their slate but if the Lancers – playing an extremely good brand of ball right now – can continue its stellar play, minimizing miscues and errors, the Lancers can hang with any squad in the league right now.

“We’ve talked about it as a team. Our ceiling is pretty high,” said Redman. “We’re a [really] good team when we play well. But we also know if we don’t come with the right mental attitude, we can lose to anybody. We’ve got to keep our focus every day, every game, every practice to continue to grind because you can lose to anybody.”

“And we’ve seen it this year. We’ve lost games we shouldn’t have.”

That 11-6 loss at Maloney underscores that fact but Eastern is looking ahead and not behind.

Wednesday’s test at home versus Berlin is a big one while next Monday, the Lancers travels to South Windsor to square off against the suddenly red-hot Bobcats.

St. Paul Catholic (May 20) is on the docket in a non-league tilt and don’t forget the Central rematch (May 24) isn’t too far down the road.

But those wins against some of the top programs in the league prove that the Lancers can be successful when all cylinders are firing.

“These games show the ceiling,” said Redman. “The Southington win, the game [against Central] today. We can battle with good teams and beat them.”